Review - Pyramid Intruder
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 5:22 am
** This game was released exclusively in Japan **
Pyramid Intruder is yet another entry into the 3DO’s library of space shooters. It could be argued that the multiplayer didn’t need another game of this type (the genre is represented fairly well) and perhaps someone did make that argument … this one found itself stranded in Japan (despite having full English speech & text) Is it a title worthy of importing? Or should it be left in the Land of the Rising Sun?
There seems to be some attempt at a threadbare plot (alien pyramid on mars
) but I could barely make it out over the blaring music, which drowns out most of the speech in the intro. Whatever. The game will be familiar to anyone who’s played other 3DO shooters like Novastorm or Rebel Assault. It won points from the start for offering options to tweak the controls & difficulty. (I wish all games followed suit)
Being a port of a laserdisc game (Pyramid Patrol) the graphics are what you’d expect them to be … not as clean as a LD, but still pretty sweet. While the tunnel sections are fairly drab, the wide open areas inside the pyramid impress a good deal with some cool backgrounds and camera angles that swing around for dramatic flavor. The cd sounds don’t impress to quite the same level as the graphics, but they are still good and enjoyable.
While it isn’t a cursor only affair a la Burning Soldier, control is limited in Pyramid Intruder ... but you are given some freedom to choose flight paths. It’s straightforward, but I did notice it was sometimes hard to detect when weapons would hit. It almost like the collision detection registers just a smidge early. As a result I often simply tried to dodge rather than engage the enemies. Its’ not a big deal, but it does factor into the challenge. Really, the biggest challenge is getting through each level in one life. If not, its back to the start as there are no checkpoints.
Pyramid Intruder has a lot of the same flaws that games of this nature do, but the visuals and sounds make it worth persisting. While I admit to not playing this game as much as some others, its always a fun time when I do. Pyramid Intuder may not be a Starblade, but its definitely not Microcosm. An import well worth owning!
-Trev
Pyramid Intruder is yet another entry into the 3DO’s library of space shooters. It could be argued that the multiplayer didn’t need another game of this type (the genre is represented fairly well) and perhaps someone did make that argument … this one found itself stranded in Japan (despite having full English speech & text) Is it a title worthy of importing? Or should it be left in the Land of the Rising Sun?
There seems to be some attempt at a threadbare plot (alien pyramid on mars
) but I could barely make it out over the blaring music, which drowns out most of the speech in the intro. Whatever. The game will be familiar to anyone who’s played other 3DO shooters like Novastorm or Rebel Assault. It won points from the start for offering options to tweak the controls & difficulty. (I wish all games followed suit) Being a port of a laserdisc game (Pyramid Patrol) the graphics are what you’d expect them to be … not as clean as a LD, but still pretty sweet. While the tunnel sections are fairly drab, the wide open areas inside the pyramid impress a good deal with some cool backgrounds and camera angles that swing around for dramatic flavor. The cd sounds don’t impress to quite the same level as the graphics, but they are still good and enjoyable.
While it isn’t a cursor only affair a la Burning Soldier, control is limited in Pyramid Intruder ... but you are given some freedom to choose flight paths. It’s straightforward, but I did notice it was sometimes hard to detect when weapons would hit. It almost like the collision detection registers just a smidge early. As a result I often simply tried to dodge rather than engage the enemies. Its’ not a big deal, but it does factor into the challenge. Really, the biggest challenge is getting through each level in one life. If not, its back to the start as there are no checkpoints.
Pyramid Intruder has a lot of the same flaws that games of this nature do, but the visuals and sounds make it worth persisting. While I admit to not playing this game as much as some others, its always a fun time when I do. Pyramid Intuder may not be a Starblade, but its definitely not Microcosm. An import well worth owning!
-Trev
)